A Less Expensive Alternative For Edible Images
Decorating By cassandrascakes Updated 27 Jul 2007 , 6:20am by CakeDiva73
Now somebody stop me if this doesn't make sense--
There are plenty of el cheapo printers out there that we could utilize just for edible images, but no one makes ink cartridges for them. I have a lexmark that I paid $20 for at wal-mart, but there's no edible cartridges for it, so I couldn't purchase another one for cake use.
Now, this printer prints pictures pretty good, definitely good enough for cakes.
I found a website that sells empty cartridges. I have emailed them to make sure that these are NOT recycled cartridges, and are truly cartridges that have never been filled with any inedible ink. I explained what I would be using them for. These cartridges are transparent and you can tell that they have never been filled.
Couldn't I purchase some empties for an el cheapo printer and turn any printer into an edible printer with just an edible ink refill kit????
I broke it down:
Cheap printer $20.00
Refill Cartridges: $15.00
Edible Ink Refill Kit: $40.00
Package of Frosting Sheets $24.00
Grand Total....$99
Of course, it would all depend on how cheap the printer was. Even a $50 printer could get you started for around $130.
I think I'm going to try it since my Canon MP130 isn't feeding well and is tearing up all of my expensive frosting sheets. I would love to know what everyone thinks about this. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but maybe some of you have a different opinion.
I for one would be v interested in knowing how you get on with this one - I can't see any reason why this wouldn't work.
I think it would work greatly!! I'd be very interested to know if this works properly for you because I've been interested in starting doing edible images and just haven't began yet because I was affraid of how much it would cost lol... $100.~ ain't that bad lol
Also.... the refill ink kit... is it easy to do? I bought the refill kit for my regular printer and ended up ruining my printer and my desk... the ink leaked back out of the hole I had to make to refill the cartridge and ran onto everything and ran all over the inside of the printer... even though the package said it was made for that type of cartridge and wouldn't leak and the hole would vacumm plug it's self... it didn't work lmao
That sounds perfect, swapping cartridges, but I was told that the non-edible ink could still be on the printer heads and could contaminate the edible ink or image as it's printing... so I was informed if I was going to do this I'd have to "clean" the heads EVERYTIME I got ready to print. And it would have to be cleaned with the edible ink inplace so it would inturn waste the ink because the cleaning process just bleeds a mess of ink out into pretty lines lol....
I think it'd be better to have seperate printers for this and other office needs because I just wouldn't want the risk. 
For food safety reasons I think you must have seperate printers.
cassandrascakes, Sounds interesting.
If you don't have an edible printer and want to do them any way, just use the regular ink and place the sheet on a gum paste or mmf plaque. Also, you can laminate the picture. 
As already mentioned, for food safety reasons, you shouldn't be swapping back and forth between standard inks which are toxic and edible inks. You should be using a printer dedicated only to printing edible images.
The idea of purchasing empty cartridges yourself is interesting. This is what companies like Kopykake and others do. You'll want to be careful about compatibility though. It's not just the cartridges that you have to consider, it's also the print head. Some print heads won't function properly with edible inks which is why only certain printers are chosen (ie older Canon models and some Epsons).
I don't think the OP was wanting to switch back and forth between her 'real' print cartridges and edible ones, she was trying to see if she could save money by buying empties and filling w/ a refill kit for a compatible new cheapo rather then buying the main cartridges themeselves......which is a really cool idea.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%
